Sanford picks up another Beaufort County lawmaker's endorsement

Former Gov. Mark Sanford, Republican candidate for the 1st Congressional District

Former Gov. Mark Sanford now has the support of two of the last three state senators to hold Beaufort County’s District 46.

Former state Sen. Scott Richardson, a Republican who left his district in 2007 to head the S.C. Department of Insurance on a Sanford nomination, announced his endorsement of Sanford’s 1st Congressional District bid in a statement Thursday.

“Mark inherited a terrible fiscal situation as governor, but turned it around by making tough choices that eliminated nearly $1 billion in debt and deficits. As well, he worked tirelessly to protect the quality of life in the Lowcountry and across the state by setting aside more land than any other governorship in state history,” Richardson said, referring to the more than 152,000 acres his administration preserved through public-private partnerships with landowners and government assistance.

The announcement from Richardson, a Hilton Head Island insurance and real estate executive who nows runs a consulting firm, follows an endorsement last week from the sitting state Sen. Tom Davis, who left his post as chief of staff in Sanford’s administration in 2008 to run for District 46 against Richardson’s short-lived successor.

The former governor, who went as far as to say “Beaufort County may well decide this election,” has actively campaigned in the county where he maintains a family farm. Beaufort County accounted for nearly a quarter of GOP turnout in 2012’s 1st District race between Democrat Bobbie Rose and incumbent Republican Tim Scott, who trounced Rose only to advance to the U.S. Senate by executive appointment when former Sen. Jim DeMint stepped down to run a conservative think tank.

Of the 16 Republicans fighting for the conservative coastal district stretching south from Charleston, only state Rep. Andy Patrick hails from Beaufort County. Patrick, R-Hilton Head, has locked down endorsements from municipal leaders in his home county, including two Bluffton town councilmen, Mayor Lisa Sulka and Hilton Head Mayor Drew Laughlin.

Patrick recently attracted some national media attention when he denounced what he termed Sanford’s “Apology Tour,” during which Sanford released a TV ad and appeared on the Today Show admitting to personal failings but insisting his record with taxpayers remains untarnished.

“Andy Patrick is a Christian man and believes in repentance,” said Mike Biundo, a Patrick surrogate. “But he also believes past is prologue. Governor Sanford displayed a sad dereliction of duty in abandoning the people of the entire state of South Carolina, and his personal tour of redemption now is a disservice to the people of the Lowcountry who are looking for the next leader to represent them in Congress.”

An ethics commission leveled a record $74,000 in fines in 2010 over travel and campaign contribution use in the wake of revelations that Sanford disappeared from the state to visit his Argentine lover.

Despite that, many still consider Sanford a frontrunner for the seat he held from 1995 to 2000. It’s since been redrawn to include most of Beaufort and Charleston counties as well as parts of Dorchester, Colleton and Berkeley counties.

Primaries will be held March 19. A likely runoff would follow April 2.